


Rory Griffin - [Dancer]

by Remvis



Series: The Wanderers of Rhir [4]
Category: The Wandering Inn - pirateaba
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Isekai, dance, leveling, rogue - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:55:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25543210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remvis/pseuds/Remvis
Summary: Rory Griffin is a [Dancer] in Rhir who seems to have a shady past.  He's found a home at the Flower's Dance Academy, but when will his past come back?  And is he as safe as he thinks that he is?  What exactly did he do, and who can he turn to when he doesn't even know if he can trust himself?
Series: The Wanderers of Rhir [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1601851
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Chapter 1

There’s beauty in everything. At least that’s what Miss Cassandra said. Everything has beauty, no matter how small, or large. Everything has meaning, and that means that it is beautiful. That’s one of the reasons why she had started the Flower’s Dance Academy. She wanted to teach others how dancing could showcase the beauty in life. 

Rory Griffin appreciated the sentiment. He really did. In fact, that was one of the reasons that he’d joined the Academy. It sure beat wandering around at random throughout the dangerous countryside of Rhir, waiting for someone, or worse- something, to come along and kill him.

Rory practiced the moves of the dance that he was learning. [Sakura’s Fall] was a light, breezy dance that took the [Dancer] around a large room. With wide sweeping arm and leg movements, Rory was reminded briefly of practicing with a bokken- a wooden katana- at a martial studio back at home. Dancing with a blade was a lot like the dance that he was doing right now. 

“Rory. Fix your step. Your right foot needs to be about four inches to the right when you step away. You’re not open enough.”

Saif Rogers was a gentle man, but firm in his tone. He was a vibrant man, full of life, and it clearly showed on his face. He was a handsome man, with high cheekbones and slanted eyes, with a frown to display his displeasure. He had long black hair, tied at the back in a braid that reached down to the middle of his back. 

Rory bowed as though he would to a sensei, lost for a moment between the similarities between dancing and practicing fighting. “I’m sorry Master Saif. Let me try again.”

The older man nodded, and Rory began his dance again. 

Rory was young, but learning quickly. He’d been leveling quickly as a [Dancer] since coming here a couple of months ago. In such a short span of time, he’d already gained 16 levels. His teachers were surprised by the progress that he’d made, and also at some new dances that he’d added to the studio. New ideas were always welcome, though Rory seemed to come up with new dance styles and moves as though he were remembering them from somewhere else. 

Rory didn’t tell his instructors that he’d come from another world, where dance cultures were abundant. He’d gotten a Skill early on in this world- [Perfect Recall]. It allowed him to recreate dances that he’d only once seen people do in his world, even if he had never danced them himself. 

Back to the dance at hand, Rory was once more performing the steps of [Sakura’s Fall]. He was focused on learning this new dance, and his mind cleared of all else as he became one with his surroundings, gliding with ease. 

[Graceful Step]. It was a skill that allowed him graceful movements, even if normally he’d stumble through learning a new dance. 

He was one with the room, one with the tiles beneath his feet. He was a petal, dancing on the wind, and a human, dancing as a river flows downstream. His mind was blank, save for the movements that encompassed him. His eyes closed, and he breathed in deeply. In the serenity of the dance, Rory could almost forget his past sins. 

Almost. 

He stumbled, and fell to the ground as his knees buckled under the pressure of that thought. 

He’d had to do it. He didn’t mean to-

Someone hefted him up on his feet. He looked around, startled, and calmed when he saw the face of Master Saif. 

“Easy now kid. Catch your breath. It’s safe here.”

Rory breathed haggardly for a couple more moments, before his breathing eased back into rhythmic consistency. He hadn’t meant to think of it. And it was behind him anyways. Here, there was only beauty and safety. 

Rory wished that he had never stepped into this world. 

“I- I think that I’m alright Master Saif. Thank you.”

The handsome [Dancer] looked down at the younger man as though he were a wounded dog, still in need of assistance. 

“Nonsense Rory. We’ll try again tomorrow, once you’re feeling better.” Saif was already walking away. “I’ll talk with Mistress Alanya about getting you out of lessons for the rest of the day, you take it easy.”

He was gone, around the corner so fast that Rory hadn’t been able to get a word in edgewise. Not that Rory would have protested too much. After that, he wasn’t feeling quite like he wanted to dance very much, as much as he liked the activity. 

***

Rory sat by the pond of the Academy. To be fair, the Academy was less what you’d assume a school building would be like, and more of a campus, with three main buildings, and a garden in the middle. The pond that Rory sat by laid nearest to the living quarters, and a few other students were watching the ripples that the fish made, trying to find some sort of inspiration for new dances. 

A few other students were practicing their homework, different types of dances, or practicing a Skill in particular, with the intent on learning it. Not everyone got the same Skills, and not all Skills were created equal. Rory had learned that early on.

[Seduction Dance] was one such Skill. When he’d been excited about [Sure Footing], one of the other students had decided to use that one on him. His cheeks flushed red remembering the way that her hips had swayed- her eyes sparkling in the sun… 

He shook his head, face blushing. Ella Jarvis was beautiful, that was for sure. And she was also seven years his senior. He was 19 years old, and he didn't like the concept of dating someone had been an adult back when he was in middle school, no matter how pretty she was. 

“Hey, Rory! I heard that you’re skipping classes again today! What does that make it, seven times this month?” Came a shout from his best friend here at the Academy, a spry boy named Toniar Helis. Rory liked to call him Tony, since it was easier for him to think of that Toniar. 

“Screw off Tony, I don’t skip on purpose, and you know that!” Rory wasn’t really in the mood to have his friend harassing him like this. “I was in the middle of practicing [Sakura’s Fall] when I fell, and you know how Saif is around me. Treating me special just because I…” Rory trailed off, and shut his eyes. He really didn’t want to think about it. 

Tony looked at his friend with exasperation. Only a select number of people knew about his past. And that was the way he liked it. He didn’t need people looking down on him, nor did he need sympathy. 

“Alright…” Tony started, before a mischievous grin took hold of his face. Tony was a little bit of a prankster, and liked to mess with the other students, as well as the teachers sometimes too. He had reddish-brown hair that gave him a bit of a mousy look, as well as deep brown eyes. He was quite the lady’s man too when he tried, being both charming and a good [Dancer]. 

“How about we sneak out of the Academy and go to the market? I’ve saved up some money, we could buy some cool things! We could also go to a tavern and offer to dance, I’m sure the [Innkeepers] won’t mind a business boost from having performers there, and we could make a couple of pocket change on the side.”

Rory looked at his friend for a moment and considered, but only briefly. Sneaking out of the Academy was against the rules, and if you were caught in the town on any day but the weekend, you’d be set to doing the dishes or laundry duty for a week. None of the students particularly wanted to add the extra labor to their plates, so it said a lot about Rory’s confidence that he wouldn’t get caught when he agreed.

“Sure. Let me just grab some money from my room, and I’ll meet you at the eastwall in twenty minutes.” Rory took a glance to look around the open area, and to his relief, it looked like none of the other students had been paying attention. With luck, they would see Tony and Rory leave separately, and assume that they weren’t planning on doing anything. 

Tony nodded and walked away, a skip in his step. Rory watched his fellow students for another minute or two, before covertly gathering his things and making his way back to his room. 

The walk only took a minute, since the small pond sat in the middle of the three buildings that made up the Academy, and Rory took a leisurely pace as he went up to his room, nodding acknowledgement to a couple of hellos and greetings made by other students. 

He entered his room and quickly changed into something a little bit more subtle. When dancing in the Academy, it was expected that the students wore bright clothes of varying colors, to accentuate the dancer’s movements. Sometimes even wear more revealing clothes to draw the eye. 

Rory didn’t mind that too much, but if he were going out into town, he wanted to be noticed as little as possible. No reason to draw unneeded attention to himself if he could help it. 

When he was done, he wore a simple outfit of a graying woolen shirt, dirtied from months of wear from the original white. He wore a pair of leather britches, which snugly clung to his legs all the way down into a pair of knee-high boots that had their tops turned down. He looked like any normal passerby person from the town. 

As almost an afterthought, he grabbed a red scarf and wrapped it around his head, leaving his main face unobstructed, but also giving him the ability to lightly block out the sun if he needed it. It was still only springtime, but here on Rhir the days could get hot. 

He grabbed a small pouch of money that he kept on his mantleplace, and avoided glancing at his closet. He took a look in the mirror, and studied himself. Aside from his startling cerulean eyes, he didn’t look that out of place in the attire. Just another normal member of the city. 

He poked his head out of his room warily before exiting his room, closing the door furtively behind him. He didn’t want to make a lot of noise, lest his neighbors poke their heads out and see him leaving in his current attire. The other students knew that he was a little bit weird, but if anybody saw him looking as he did now, they’d report him to one of the teachers. 

He made his way quickly down the hallways of the building, and instead of going downstairs towards the lower floor, he made his way upstairs, and hid quickly in one of the abandoned storage closets. He opened the window, wincing a bit at the creaking sound it made as the not oft-moved glass shifted.  
He took a look outside and smiled to himself. Nobody was behind the building, and any normal person would balk at descending down to the ground from the third floor. It was too bad that his room was at the front of the building, and the second floor didn’t have any unused rooms, but he could do this. 

He pulled himself out the window, onto a ledge that he’d known was right outside it, and once more closed the glass pane back into the shut position, leaving a crack so that he could sneak back in if he needed to. 

“[Featherstep Landing]” He whispered as he dropped from the ledge, three stories high. As he descended, instead of gaining speed, he landed on the ground with grace, not hurt a bit. Skills could really be useful if you knew how to use them in the right situation. 

He made his way around the outskirts of the buildings, until he found Tony at the eastwall. There was a long wall surrounding the Academy, though it wasn’t exactly monitored. 

The complex had once belonged to a Lord, some thirty years ago, before it was bought by the current owner, Cassandra Lyr. She’d renovated a bit, but felt like the protection of the walls against potential Demon attacks might be a help. So far, apparently, it had blocked one such incursion, about seventeen years ago. Cassandra had paid the [Stone Masons] of the city good money to maintain its upkeep every year, to clear out broken stones and fix cracks in the wall. 

Tony was waiting on him, with a rope already hanging from the top of the wall, and nodded as Rory approached. “Let’s go.” He said, a quiver in his voice at the prospect of being seen. 

Rory nodded, and took watch as Tony scaled the wall with a fair amount of fluidity, and then followed himself. Once they reached the top of the wall, Tony brought it up so that nobody would tell that anybody had been there, and packed the twenty foot long rope in a satchel that he had on one shoulder. 

Rory took a look over the side, and after making sure nobody from the city was watching the eastwall, he jumped, doing a fancy flip in midair, before landing in a pile of hay. He quickly go up and brushed himself off, before turning and helping Tony out too, who had followed closely behind. 

“Let’s go check out the Market,” Tony was saying, still brushing off stray pieces of hay from his pants. “I need a new buckle for my belt, and I want to check out Silda’s shop.”

Rory just nodded. He knew that he’d get his turn to drag his friend around, and it was better in daylight if he merely shadowed his friend instead of taking the lead. [Pickpockets] and [Thieves] weren't likely going to steal from you if they new that you were aware of them.

He followed his friend into the city, wary of the fact that he was breaking the rules of the Academy, and also wary of anybody who wanted to take advantage of him and his friend. 

He wasn’t going to let it happen again. Not here, where he was safe. Not when he could stop it before it happened. 

He’d make sure of it.


	2. Chapter 2

When Miss Cassandra had first come to the land in between the Second and Third Walls, she had seen the desolation of War. Ever since the Antinium crashed through the final three Walls, the Demons had poured in and scoured the land, before the Blighted Kingdom could push them back. 

She’s seen that the people of this land had nothing. No motive to keep going, no happiness. They’d dropped into a state of depression, and didn’t have a reason to live. Cassandra had come from Baleros, had seen war and strife before. She knew of the impact that war had on the people.

Lizardfolk, one of the races that resided in Baleros, had an interesting mindset, which if you oversimplified it, boiled down to living life as though it were a fun game rather than treating it as a harsh reality. 

If you pretend everything is fine, then it will be, right? 

Cassandra took it a step further. The Lizardfolk lived in a country torn about by constant struggles. And yet, they prospered. They enjoyed life, and went out of their way to engage others with their bubbly personalities. 

Miss Cassandra had seen the land torn apart by the devastation of the Antinium and the Demons, and had chosen a small village to start dancing in. 

When she’d first appeared, the people didn’t really pay attention. But she danced day and night, for four days straight, until even the townsfolk begged her to rest and eat some food. 

She rested for a day, and then on the sixth, resumed. She got some villagers to dance with her, and happiness crept back into the lives of those broken villagers. 

After a while, she asked the villagers who owned the Estate on the hill, and they told her of a Lord, who had abandoned them. The Lord had other holdings, behind the Second Wall, and hid there instead of protecting their citizens. 

Cassandra had gone to the Lord and bought the Manor from him, and turned it into the dancing school that it had become today. 

When she came back, the villagers looked on as their lives began to change. Instead of a small village of barely a hundred sparse farmers and river fishermen, the land began to grow. It became a town, people moving in from miles around to see this [Dancer] who brought joy back into the hearts of the people. 

The town grew, and after ten years, had grown into a proper small City in its own right. There was new river trade now, with connections to the north in Foris, and to the south at Jirrick. They’d begun to make more boats themselves with the wood from a nearby tree farm that was tended by a [Druid] and some [Lumberjacks]. They’d begun to grow new produce again, and a market had opened up. Iron and Steel began to come in from Foris, and a slew of [Smiths] of all types took up a portion of the city, selling armor, weapons, belt buckles, nails, horseshoes, anything that you could think of. 

And from the south, came a variety of leather and woolen goods. Jirrick had sent furs and wool, hides of deer, and hunting supplies besides. With the increase of trade came more people, and the City after twenty-odd years was prosperous. 

The people of the city weren’t stupid. What had once been a small village by the name of Hal, had become a joyous city where life flourished. And it had been because a simple [Dancer] had stopped by, and stayed. 

The people of Hal had conferred, and after a week of deliberation, had renamed the city after the one who had brought them back their reason to live. 

Cassia stood tall, and hadn’t fallen to monsters or demons in twenty one years. 

It had been the rumors that had drawn Rory Griffin. A safe place, where the people were happy. Nothing back happened there, and he didn’t have to watch his back every moment of the day. He’d set foot into the City, and had been swept up by the change in the demeanor of the people who lived there. 

Instead of half-hearted ambition and drive, like most of the people had in Rhir, the people of Cassia had heart. They laughed raucously and told jokes. They stood tall, and had pride in themselves. It was a place of renewal, of grace, an oasis in the desert. 

It was a place that Rory could atone for his mistakes. 

Rory followed Tony into the City from the eastwall. There was a bundle of houses and a few inns that surrounded the Academy, with a couple of stables as well. The Academy was on the edge of town, and newcomers to the town were always interested by the Dancer School. 

Tony guided Rory further into the town. Stone cobbled roads, as opposed to the paved ones that Rory knew from his world, laid the groundwork for the city. The houses were made primarily out of wood and had thatched roofs. Seldom could you find glass window panes, glass was apparently had to come by in a world like this. 

Instead, any windows had wooden shutters that could be opened and closed with a metal clasp. It was a nice sight for Rory the first time that he’d entered the City.

On they walked, and the houses slowly began to change. There were taller buildings here, more two story houses and businesses, a butchery here, a barber on the corner. The houses in the center of the city, closer to the river, also had tiled roofs instead of thatched ones. A man had come into town a couple of years ago, a [Tile Maker], and had competed with the local [Thatcher] for roofing rights the entire time. 

Some of the original villagers still paid the [Thatcher] for his service, but most of the newcomers had tiled roofs. 

Rory and Tony came across the produce Market, and walked in. A bunch of street vendors stood around, selling food of all sorts to passersby. Oats, loaves of bread, chicken, beef, berries, apples, eggs. Produce of all sorts could be found here, and it was supplied by the surrounding farms for the most part. Venison came from the south, of course, on boats, but for the most part the food was local. 

Rory watched the crowds of people as they bought food. Tony made his way up to the apple vendor, and haggled a bit for a lower price. Rory kept his eyes on the crowd, looking, searching…

There. In between the throngs of people, sat a vulture of a man, with a hooked nose and beady eyes. His balding head was an indicator of age, which meant that he was likely higher level than most. He stooped over, hunching his shoulders, and craned his neck forward, as though that would bring him closer to finding his prize. 

A [Thief], or a [Pickpocket] or some similar class. He was looking for someone to rob, and no doubt had some sort of stealth Skill that would allow him to slink away without his victim even knowing he was there. 

But Rory knew he was there, even if most of the passersby didn’t stop to look twice at the man sitting in the shadows of the food stalls. 

It was his [Shadowsight] Skill that let him do so. In areas of low light and darkness, he could notice things, even if a normal human’s eyes wouldn’t be able to. It was always active, and had saved his life a couple of times since he’d gotten it. 

A flash of a blade. A stir, almost imperceptible in the night air as a man with a dagger crept out of the darkness and attempted to cut Rory and his companions’ throats. Rory had barely heard the man, and it was only from years of physical training that his hand went to his sword and unsheathed it, knocking the dagger away from himself and cutting the man down in the blink of an eye. 

He hadn’t had a chance to fight back. Such was the training of battojutsu-the art of quick drawing and resheathing. 

Rory stared at his katana, calming himself, and he swung it to the side, getting rid of most of the blood, and resheathed it, running his thumb the length of the blade to get rid of the rest of the blood before it settled back into place at his left side. It was not the first time he’d killed tonight, and if he wanted to get these people to safety, he’d surely need to kill again. He’d already failed to save one of them-

The man was making a move. Rory shook himself out of his stupor, and watched with trepidation as the man stood slowly, stretching. Who was he going for? Which person. Rory wouldn’t be able to stop the [Thief] from taking their money in the first place, surely, but…

The beady eyed man strolled casually from his spot, walking through the crowd of people towards an unsuspecting woman with long red curls and a bow slung on her back. She had a coin pouch hanging openly at her belt-a prime target for a thief of opportunity. Rory took one look at Tony, still purchasing some food, before he sprung into action.

The young man crouched, and moved quickly. In his stooped over state, moving quickly normally would have elucidated loud footsteps. It was a way of stalking that made way for sound but allowed one to follow swiftly without being seen as easily. And with the crowd of people being as dense as it was, Rory didn’t think that the [Thief] knew he was there. 

“[Light Footfall]” He whispered, and moved, walking quickly towards the last place he’d seen the woman. She wouldn’t have money for long, not if he didn’t act soon. And any good [Thief] would have some detection Skills, to tell if anything was coming. 

His long boots went silent in an instant, hard crunches underfoot turning to nothingness as his own Skill came into effect. It wasn’t perfect of course, but it turned any footsteps that he had into light ones, less likely to draw attention. 

Some of the passersby gave him odd looks, and Rory didn’t stop to think about it. Just a young man crouching as though he were some sort of main character from a stealth based video game, seamlessly moving through the crowd. Nothing weird to see here.

It had always been a game to him when he’d been younger. How to navigate a crowd. Somehow he’d always been able to understand how a group of people moving would end up-how he could use momentary gaps in a crowd to weave his way through hoards of people, still maintaining whatever speed he’d wanted. 

He’d gotten quite good at it, especially growing up in densely populated cities- first in Tokyo, and then when his Mom had moved to New York City when he’d been thirteen. Highly populated cities were his forte, and a newly growing fantasy city had nothing on an established Earth one.

To his own surprise, he reached the man just as he was reaching out for the woman’s exposed coin pouch, and caught the [Thief]’s wrist in the air. The hook-nosed man’s eyes grew wide for just a moment before Rory took the man’s hand and bent the arm in such a way that trapped it against his chest. 

Anybody who’d taken any sort of martial arts classes back home would have recognized such a simple form, but Rory doubted very many people in this world had such a good understanding of basic grappling techniques. As it was, Rory pushed the man to the ground, which wasn’t hard considering the position that he’d gotten the man into with his grapple. 

A few shouts and murmurs rose from the crowd as Rory dismantled the [Thief]’s attempt in a manner of seconds. The young man looked up to the red haired woman, and gave her a nod from his position. 

“Sorry ‘bout this. Noticed this here fella eyeing your money, and I had ta step in while I could.” He paused, and noticed the growing crowd of stopped people. “Hey, can some’un git the guard? I’m holdin’ a would-be [Thief] here!”

His New York Accent was coming through, something that happened when he wasn’t too careful. It wasn’t his fault that he’d grown up in NYC most of his life, and even though he’d moved to California a year before ending up here, he’d still retained some of his accent. 

His dark brown eyes met the young woman’s light brown, as though they were small balls of amber, and she gave him a smile, one which he returned. 

“Thanks darling. Speakin’ oof. Are ye Japanese? I’ no’ seen anyone looks like ye in five hundred miles since coming here.”

Rory almost let go of the man right there and then, but reaffirmed his grip in an instant. It took a monumental amount of willpower, but he almost broke down then and there. 

He couldn’t do it. He wouldn’t be able to keep her safe. Not again. 

Tears welled up in his eyes, and the young woman bent down and thumped the thief on the head with a strong hand, making him slump over, unconscious, before she took Rory in her arms. 

“There there, it’s alright. Arty’s gotcha. Let em out.”

And he cried in a stranger’s arms, the dam of emotions breaking through. Except she wasn’t a stranger, not really. She was from home, even if he didn’t know her. And to have survived this long, she had to know what it was like. 

He cried until he passed out, and didn’t remember Tony taking him off her arms, apologizing for his friend. He didn’t remember Tony taking him all the way back to the Academy, nor the watchful eyes that traced his passage from that market. 

He remembered amber eyes and a comforting smile, and finally fell asleep. 

[Dancer Level 17!]

[Skill Obtained- Dance of Peace]

[Rogue Level 15!]

[Skill Obtained- Sleep Hold!]


End file.
